2005 Pa. Super. 289 - Almes v. Burket’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[w]e are not prepared to assert that an attorney who forgets that the certificate was due or who fails to take the above mentioned actions when faced with a family crisis like the one presented here is so derelict in his obligations that the oversight should not be excused. “The law requires only that the failure be accompanied by a reasonable explanation or a legitimate excuse. Keeping in mind that the opening of a judgment is an appeal to the equitable powers of the court, we do not believe our law is so cold-hearted as to demand vigilance of an attorney who experiences a death in the fam ily or is so cold as to be unwilling to excuse failure under these circumstances.” Id. at 866.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Doble v. Moses Taylor Hospital · 546 F. Supp. 2d 238 - Stroud v. Abington Memorial Hospital

2. ““Given the factual circumstances of this matter and our standard of review, the grant of appellee’s motion to open the judgments of non pros was proper. The lower court’s decision is additionally supported by both equitable principles and Pa.R.C.P. 126 which provides that ‘the [Rules of Civil Procedure] shall be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action or proceeding to which they are applicable . . . the court at every stage of any proceeding may disregard any error or defect of procedure which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties.’ While Rule 1042.3 provides for a generous time period before the required filing of the certificate of merit, and while the rule allows for unlimited time extensions, in the context of this case, the lower court ruled, and we agree, that it was not wholly unreasonable for appellee to have concluded that his actions represented substantial compliance with the certificate of merit rule. As the lower court noted, appellee ‘provided [appellants], prior to the required filing of the certificate of merit, not just an attorney’s affidavit, but the reports, themselves.’ Lower court opinion, at 4. We agree that since appellee has satisfied the purpose of Rule 1042.3, he should not be barred from his day in court because he mistakenly, but reasonably, believed he had met his obligation. The lower court did not abuse its discretion, and the court properly granted appellee’s motion to open t”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Doble v. Moses Taylor Hospital